Mauritius in the early years.

Located in Mahebourg (here), ‘Pointe des Regates’ most probably draws its name from the boat competitions organised there since late 19th century. Regatta competitions form part of old traditions which unfortunately had been abandoned since some years, but quite recently some associations have decided to start these traditions again. Regatta competitions, dating since 1874 (Patrimoine …

In 1868, whilst the overall population of Curepipe was growing rapidly due to some epidemy on the lower grounds which encouraged many to move towards the plateaus, the church of Sainte Therese was erected by Comerford. He gave the name of Sainte Therese in souvenir of his sister, Mother Thérèsa Comerford, who was in charge …

Ox-Carts have been used in Mauritius since ages, and even since the beginning of settlement on the island. We have written quite a lot already about these means of transport and it brings nostalgia when writing about this. Nowadays all of these have been replaced by motorised vehicles and people no longer use animal-driven transport. Not …

La Gaulette is a small fishermen village near Le Morne, on the coastal road near Chamarel. The village bears well its name as “Gaulette” from the french word means fishing rod, the main tool of a fisherman. Basically, the nearest place of attraction concerning the village is the small island of ‘Benitier’ (L’ile aux Benitiers). …

Place D’Armes, which extends between the Government House till the front of the Harbour, including the Statue of Mahe de La Bourdonnais, is considered to be the heart fo the city of Port Louis. The place is royally enclosed by tall palm trees and surrounded by old canons digged half-way in the ground. At the …

Found near La Laura, L’Avenir/Beau Bois is a very quiet and peaceful region with mainly agriculture everywhere. Sugar Cane remains the mainly occupied landspace. Crossing the old ‘Napoleon Bridge‘ (erected 1865, and rebuilt 1941) towards Beau Bois, the view over the Port Louis/Moka Range is overwhelming. In those days, school uniform wasn’t common and accessories …

One of the busiest and principal street in Port Louis, La Chaussée was built during the French Ruling period by the engineer Tromelin on the 1st July 1779, two months after the arrival of the Governor Vicomte de Souillac. This part of Port Louis, including the ‘Jardin de la Compagnie‘ was at the beginning a marshy land …

Located right in front of the Mahebourg waterfront, the Mouchoir Rouge island has been quite intriguing and is certainly a matter of curiosity; what is there on this little island and why this red-roofed house? What is its purpose? Well, many sources have different explanations and no one is certain about what it is really about. …

When we take a look at the Company Garden (Jardin de la Compagnie) today and we try to compare it to what it was some hundred years ago we will immediately see the difference, both physically and emotionally. Today the garden no longer bears the same feeling of the time, nor has a soul as …

HMS Intrepid was one of two Fearless class amphibious warfare ships of the Royal Navy. A Landing Platform Dock (LPD), she served from 1967 until 1999. Based in HM Naval Base, Devonport, Plymouth, Devon and HM Naval Base Portsmouth and saw service around the world over her 32 year life. In the process of being …

This Curepipe Market as we see in the image is no more and has been replaced by the current one we can see today in 2014 (picture further down). It was a much better looking building even though it had problems. In 1975, after the Cyclone of Gervaise, the Curepipe market faced much damage which …

When we read about the history of Mauritius, especially the City of Port Louis, we will learn a lot about how the island was discovered and how it progressed since, and this progress isn’t stopping yet. During the French Occupancy on the island as from 1721 and especially under the Governorship of Mahé de La …

Currently replaced by the Floreal Knitwear Textile Factory, the Mangalkhan Horse Racing was founded in December 1904 under the title of the Mauritius Jockey Club. The history behind the town of Curepipe relates that during the years 1890s, the Curepipians wanted to build a racecourse in the vicinity of their town. The first racecourse was …

Away from the buzz of urbanism, this little family of the 1970s living in a straw house somewhere in a village in Mauritius didn’t ask for much. This simple lifestyle was rather common in the years before and it could be said that living as such brought a different happiness. Probably if we try to …

Seen on the main roads of Vacoas early mornings, Mr Hossannee is among the few remaining people that are still doing this job. From the nearby bakery, he will collect and load his breads in big baskets and on his faithful old bicycle he will roam the streets of Vacoas towards his subscribed customers. He …

Back in the days of the French Colony period, there existed only 5 churches on the island. In the year 1770, Port Louis had the Saint Louis church, Vieux Grand Port (now Mahebourg) had the Notre Dame (des Anges) church, Pamplemousses had the Saint Francois D’Assise Church, St Pierre/Moka had the Saint Pierre-es-liens Church and …

This view of Curepipe taken at the top of the ‘Barclays’ building during the 1950s reveals a very clean and calm Curepipe with very few traffic. The Municipal Library at the near middle of the picture and at the extreme mid left the Municipal lake which was then still very much admired. The house in …

Many of us go by this road very often but we might not have given it consideration. These narrow stone walls at the exit of the ‘Sugar Road’ towards Sadally is actually an old railway bridge! ‘M.R A.D 1924’ – Mauritius Railways A.D 1924 written on it. It is said that this bridge was supposed …

Flic en Flac is a seaside village on the western part of the island of Mauritius in the district of Rivière Noire. Its public white sandy beach is one of the longest and nicest on the island, its lagoon is protected by the surrounding coral reefs, the beach provide spectacular views over the Indian Ocean horizon and of Le Morne Brabant Peninsula located in the south west of Mauritius. …

Aloe Fibres have been used quite extensively in Mauritius during the past years for the creation of ‘Goni’ (Gooni) bags. Before the advent of polypropylene and plastic bags, goni was an indispensable element in the overall trade, not only in Mauritius, but throughout the world. It was used to pack and ship agricultural commodities such …

Vintage Mauritius

Vintage Mauritius is an online community founded on facebook with the aim of promoting the beautiful island of Mauritius, but in a different era... the early years where everything was different. This website is complementary to the facebook online community and aims primarily at showing other aspects on the country through Vintage Pictures of Mauritius and old places of the country. Also, expect both French & English contents on this website since Mauritius is both a francophone and anglophone country. These old images of Mauritius on this website is a handful selection of the many more on the facebook page.

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Showing Mauritius of the past but not enjoying the present? No, that's what we don't do! Follow us as we discover Mauritius through adventures and trips!